1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-tank type fuel pump system including a fuel pump provided in a fuel tank for supplying fuel to an injection device. More particularly, to an in-tank type fuel pump system in which a fuel filter is connectable to a fuel pump mounted to a fuel tank in accordance with any one of various mounting manners.
2. Description of Background Art
An in-tank type fuel pump system is known, for example, as set forth in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 6-12100, wherein a fuel pump is mounted to a ceiling side of a fuel tank for an automobile via a stay, and a fuel filter is connected to a discharge port of the fuel pump is mounted to a ceiling portion of the fuel tank. In addition, various types of mounting for a fuel pump to be mounted to a fuel tank are known. For example, a type of mounting for a fuel pump to a fuel tank includes the fuel pump standing nearly upright on a bottom side portion of the fuel tank as shown in FIG. 2A, or a type of mounting of a fuel pump to a fuel tank in such a manner that the fuel pump is tilted from the bottom side of the fuel tank as shown in each of FIGS. 2B to 2D.
In the case of adopting the above-described various mounting types for a fuel pump to a fuel tank, each time one of the mounting types is changed to another, the position of a stay, and the positions of a fuel outlet and a fuel inlet of a fuel filter must be correspondingly changed. In other words, the same filter cannot be shared with various mounting types of a fuel pump to a fuel tank. Accordingly, it is required to prepare a new fuel filter each time one of the mounting types is changed to another. In the production field of motorcycles, in which various kinds of parts are produced in small quantities, the parts for fuel filters to be prepared become large. Thus, the management of the parts are correspondingly complicated and this results in an increase in the cost for the production. For this reason, it has been required that a fuel filter should be shared among various mounting types of a fuel pump, and to meet such a requirement, the present invention has been made.